A New Theory of Stupidity

TY - JOUR

T1 - A New Theory of Stupidity

AU - Golob, Alexander

PY - 2019/8/8

Y1 - 2019/8/8

N2 - This article advances a new analysis of stupidity as a distinctive form of cognitive failing. Section 1 outlines some problems in explicating this notion and suggests some desiderata. Section 2 sketches an existing model of stupidity, found in Kant and Flaubert, which serves as a foil for my own view. In section 3, I introduce my theory: I analyse stupidity as form of conceptual self-hampering, characterised by a specific aetiology and with a range of deleterious effects. In section 4, I show how this proposal meets the desiderata and I clarify how it diverges from existing accounts. My position is close to a ‘public health approach’, in contrast to the virtue/vice framework employed by Engel or Mulligan.

AB - This article advances a new analysis of stupidity as a distinctive form of cognitive failing. Section 1 outlines some problems in explicating this notion and suggests some desiderata. Section 2 sketches an existing model of stupidity, found in Kant and Flaubert, which serves as a foil for my own view. In section 3, I introduce my theory: I analyse stupidity as form of conceptual self-hampering, characterised by a specific aetiology and with a range of deleterious effects. In section 4, I show how this proposal meets the desiderata and I clarify how it diverges from existing accounts. My position is close to a ‘public health approach’, in contrast to the virtue/vice framework employed by Engel or Mulligan.

KW - epistemic vices

KW - epistemology

KW - intelligence

KW - Kant

KW - Philosophy of mind

KW - stupidity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068036855&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/09672559.2019.1632372

DO - 10.1080/09672559.2019.1632372

M3 - Article

SN - 0967-2559

VL - 27

SP - 562

EP - 580

JO - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES

JF - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES

IS - 4

ER -